You may know all the startups aescuvest has presented so far but you do not know what happens behind the scenes. This is why today we would like to show you how aescuvest’s scouts and vets start-ups...
You may know all the startups aescuvest has presented so far but you do not know what happens behind the scenes. This is why today we would like to show you how aescuvest’s scouts and vets start-ups and how much work we as a platform and the start-ups involved put into these campaigns. Also, to some degree we introduce you to the regulatory legal framework startup funding is subject to in Germany.
We are of the opinion that it takes great diligence and thus time to really get to know the startups that we consider close partners. Please meet one of them: Surge-on Medical (watch their pitch video here). In a few days, aescuvest will present the Delft-based company as the first start-up to be launched on aescuvest’s new pan-European platform. This is the timeline of Surge-on Medical’s campaign.
September 2017: First contact! Participants for the 2017 European Health Catapult Medtech Semifinals are announced by EIT Health, a network of best-in-class health innovators backed by the European Union, one of the largest healthcare initiatives worldwide and exclusive partner of aescuvest. Joerg Diehl, who is in charge of business development at aescuvest, contacts those startups selected in order to set up one-on-one meetings at the event in Barcelona to inform them about aescuvest – one of them is Surge-on Medical from the Netherlands. Surge-on Medical’s CEO and co-founder Benno Groosman and Joerg get in touch.
Barcelona, October 2017: Surge-on Medical participates at the EIT Health Catapult Medtech semi-finals. Both Benno and Surge-on Medical’s COO Audry Zoncsich attend the event in Barcelona. Joerg witnesses Surge-on Medical’s pitch and attends a scheduled one-on-one meeting with the team. Surge-on Medical then is selected a finalist to attend the EIT Health Catapult final in London, in December 2017! This is an extra incentive for Joerg’s interest in Surge-on Medical during the get-to-know-each other meeting. This will be the very beginning of the conversations about the equity crowdfunding campaign with aescuvest.
November 2017: First direct talks on CEO-level between Benno and Patrick Pfeffer (aescuvest), a mutual interest between the two parties cannot be denied which prompts the definition of first concrete steps in the process of a crowdfunding campaign.
December 2017: Both the due diligence and on-boarding process start!
June 2018: The due diligence is updated and fine-tuned in light of new legal requests. Audits are performed at Surge-on Medical.
Frankfurt, August 2018: Surge-on Medical’s team and the aescuvest team catch up at aescuvest’s HQ in order to celebrate the signature of the crowdfunding agreement!
Those ten months could be considered the mating process. But in order to really tie the knot and launch Surge-on Medical’s campaign, lots of legal requirements must be met. From this point on, the campaign process also depends severely on third parties as financial authorities are involved and lawyers as well.
Delft, September 2018: Surge-on Medical provides aescuvest’s dataroom with all the essential documents about the company, e.g. financial reports, IP documentation, articles of association, etc.
Frankfurt, September 2018: The aescuvest investment management as well as a team of lawyers review the corporate documentation of Surge-on Medical. In parallel, the founding of a special purpose vehicle (SPV) is initiated that shall become the shareholder in Surge-on Medical once the offering is successfully closed. Meanwhile, aescuvest’s IT department, spearheaded by Jakob Alexander Eichler , starts to build the backend of the platform that is able to collect money in different countries.
Delft/Frankfurt, September 2018: Surge-on Medical opts for an independent company valuation via Equidam.com on which the valuation for the offering is based upon, which again is reviewed and challenged by an auditor. Along with aescuvest and legal advisors, Surge-on Medical starts the drafting of the securities prospectus which describes the strategy and history of Surge-on Medical (“the target”) and also the structure of the offering, including the risks and rights of individual investors. 271 pages in total.
December 2018: aescuvest’s legal counsel submits the first filing of the prospectus with BaFin, Germany’s Federal Financial Supervisory Authority. Since this marks the first time of a filing of this kind, deemed to become a standardized offering structure later on, a series of discussions and several resubmissions of the prospectus are necessary until BAFIn grants its approval in July 2019.
December 2018: Creation of first marketing materials for investors to promote the crowdfunding campaign. The first draft of the one-pager is prepared.
January 2019 – July 2019: Meetings with key opinion leaders, potential investors and Surge-on Medical’s attendance to relevant European events to promote the crowdfunding and to raise awareness on the products:
Frankfurt, July 2019: BAFin approves the prospectus and clears the runway for the official launch of Surge-on Medical’s funding campaign at aescuvest.eu, scheduled for August 27, 2019, supported by EIT Health. Now that you got to know Surge-on Medical, feel free to check their pitch, join them and be part of their journey! Surge on, so to say.
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